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The Bridge Connecting The 710 To Long Beach Will Be Replaced. Here's A Sneak Peek Of The Proposed Design
A rendering of the new Shoemaker Bridge in Long Beach.
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City of Long Beach
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Topline:
Long Beach’s Shoemaker Bridge is one of the main ways drivers can get from the rest of L.A. County to downtown Long Beach — and after about a decade, city officials have released the proposed design for its estimated $900 million replacement.
What’s wrong with it? The current bridge was built in 1953, and its design — which involves sharp curves on the 710 Freeway on and off ramps — isn’t used in new bridges anymore. It’s led to some safety issues.
“There are challenges with the current railing of the bridge,” said Eric Lopez, the city’s public works director. “We do have a history of reported collisions in that area.”
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The proposed design
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City of Long Beach
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City of Long Beach
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What about the new bridge? The replacement will be built just south of the existing bridge, so drivers can still get to and from downtown Long Beach during construction. But it will not feature the same curves.
What will the project entail? Lopez said the Shoemaker Bridge Replacement Project is not just about building a safer bridge — it’s also about enhancing park space and improving the area as a whole.
“This part of the city of Long Beach is in need of redevelopment. You currently have essentially two freeway lanes that cut straight through a park and make a significant portion of a park space in that area unusable,” he said. “So we are not only working to rebuild the bridge, but to realign the traffic lanes so that you're not disconnecting a major park from the community.”
The current Shoemaker Bridge in Long Beach connecting the 710 to downtown. The city's aiming to replace it by the 2028 Olympics.
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Liezl Estipona
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City of Long Beach
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There’s also a plan to build recreational amenities, like soccer and baseball fields. He said the community would be able to share input on what they would like to see and where it should go.
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What are the next steps? Long Beach restarted its meetings with the community on Saturday, which had been paused since the pandemic. Lopez said the meeting is the first of what will become regular updates as the project progresses.
The city is aiming for the replacement to be operational by the 2028 Olympic Games.
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